Is this the poker world?Ada thief!

"The Gate of Illusions?!"

Even if others don't recognize it, how could Hayato not recognize the door in front of him?

In another timeline, this card was merely a powerful cheat card used by Camilla, one of the "Seven Stars," in a duel. Although it came at the cost of sacrificing his soul to "Phantom Demon," its powerful field-clearing effect and enhanced "Monster Resurrection" made it quite strong.

However, the details of how Camilla obtained the card, the card itself, and the connection between Camilla's vampire clan and the "Phantom Demon" were not explored in depth. The plot of that timeline skipped over this part, merely making Camilla a slowdown bump to show off the protagonist's strength by defeating Professor Chronos, cheating to defeat Caesar, and then being crushed by Jaden's first appearance of the ace card [E·hero Flash Flame Wingman].

But at least in this world, Hayato knows more about this card. For example, the "Three Phantoms" are derivatives of the "Gate of Phantoms" recorded in the Millennium Spellbook. Combining the "Three Phantoms" can recreate the "Gate of Phantoms" in a special way. After all, during the "Pyramid of Light" incident, he was ambushed by Anubis, a disciple of the Dark High Priest Aknadi, and was banished to the Elf World by this card!

However, the "Gate of Illusions" that Anubis recreated based on his understanding of the "Millennium Magic Book" was forcibly fused with "Anubis" by Hayato using the power of "Hyperfusion" to become the current "Ferocious Hungry Poison Fusion Dragon". The gate in front of us could not possibly be the one that "Anubis" recreated back then. How exactly did Yubel manage to create this gate?
The open [Phantom Gate] crashed to the ground, instantly becoming embedded in the earth, perfectly replacing the original gate at the entrance of Vera's mansion. Then, a hand reached out from the open gate, followed by another hand, and... more hands!

"What kind of monster is this?" Looking at the enormous monster that emerged from the [Gate of Illusions] behind them, blocking their retreat, Vera and the others frowned. Alai even raised his staff warily, saying, "Be careful! The otherworldly magic on this thing is so concentrated it's become rotten and stinking!"

Seemingly maintaining a largely human form, the tall monster that emerged from the [Gate of Illusions] wore a white robe and a hood, and at first glance, it looked somewhat like a priest or similar figure from some religion. However, upon closer inspection, one would feel annoyed at knowing too much—because everything that made up that human form, from its clothing to its body, was nothing but hideous hands!
Countless hands intertwined to form twisted tentacles, which then wove together to form a human shape. From under the hood, Alai and the others could only see a scarlet dot. Just looking at it made them feel endless malice and evil thoughts eroding their minds. Yet, their subconscious seemed to have defected to the enemy, constantly reducing their resistance and trying to convince themselves that the other party was a harmless being, representing "God" to grant them salvation and liberation.
Stop joking! Alai didn't know what a "god" was, but he was very sensitive to "malice." This was clearly some kind of mental force trying to distort the will of others!
As for why he knew so much—he had encountered many beings from other worlds when using [Summoning Magic], including many difficult-to-control beings like [Summoned Beast - Pulgaterio]. When he encountered such beings, he would use his own methods to control their behavior and force them to serve him. He was extremely familiar with similar twisted methods, so it would be strange if he didn't know them!
Therefore, upon realizing the other party's ability to corrupt the mind, Alai immediately stabbed himself with his staff, leaving a magic circle that distorted his mind, forcing himself to maintain the mental state he was in at the moment the magic circle was inscribed—as long as he controlled his mind first, he would no longer be corrupted by the magic circle.

However, only Alai reacted quickly. After the "monster" appeared, Vera seemed unable to resist its mental corruption. Although her distorted expression showed that she still resisted a few times, she eventually let her eyes go blank and revealed an expression of intoxication and shyness, muttering to herself as she sat down: "So, such a beautiful existence can exist in the world?"

【The Temple's Water Sprite】is a different story. Although she saw the 【Phantom Gate】 crash down and the indescribable monster emerge from it, she paid no attention to its appearance and instead kept looking at Hayato in the air: "Are you alright, Lord Hayato!"

"I'm fine, but what exactly is that thing—you don't think I'd be too concerned about that thing down there and let you run away, do you?"

As Hayato spoke, he took out the [Holy Sword of Light - Dennell] and threw it forward. With the support of the [Spiritual Exophysis], which was like a Stand, the holy sword that Hayato threw almost broke the sound speed, but it only barely grazed the body of the target he was going to attack. However, at least Hayato's goal was achieved. Yubel, who was trying to take the opportunity to slip away, had to stop and stop.

Although she had indeed prepared herself to abandon John's body, and wouldn't feel too much pain even if Hayato could kill her without hesitation, the overwhelming magical power on the [Holy Sword of Light - Dennell] made Yubel believe that if she were really stabbed, she might end up like she was in the duel between Jaden and "Amon," where she was ripped directly out of this body.

The mere sight of the [Holy Sword of Light - Dennell] severing several strands of hair from John's body, now possessed by Yubel, made her bangs look like they'd been chewed by a dog, and even caused blood to glisten on her nose, as if she'd been cut open. She quickly stopped, because Hayato seemed to be proficient in the "cancellation" technique, and by canceling the summoning, he retrieved the flying holy sword and made a throwing motion again.

"It's a shame I couldn't push you into the [Gate of the Phantom Demon], Kobayashi Hayato." Despite appearing coerced and unable to move, Yubel's tone was anything but weak. "What is that thing? Shouldn't you know best? The source of the 'Three Phantom Demons' power—an existence called the [Gate of the Phantom Demon]."

"To be honest, I initially collected the 'Three Egyptian Gods' because I coveted their power, which was precisely targeted at the characteristics of the Pokémon world. However, after actually acquiring the 'Three Egyptian Gods,' I received an unexpected surprise. This is something you, who have always trusted cards like the 'Three Egyptian Gods,' probably don't know, right?"

"Question—If the power of the Millennium Artifacts and the Egyptian God Cards in ancient Egypt three thousand years ago originated from the dark god Zorc Nelofa, and the Millennium Spellbook, which records their creation methods, also mentions the Egyptian God Cards, whose prototypes are the Egyptian God Cards, and the Egyptian God Cards' power originates from within the Phantom Gate, then where does the other end of the Phantom Gate lead?"

"I don't even know where the end of the universe is, how could I possibly know the answer?" Hayato saw Yubel stop, but he aimed and threw the [Holy Sword of Light - Dennell] again, only to have Yubel dodge it again. "Anyway, all I need to do is kill you."

"No, killing me won't change anything!"

After the [Gate of Illusions] fell, Yubel, who had no intention of recalling the two useless "Illusions," dodged Hayato's attack again and even launched an attack in Hayato's direction in an attempt to retaliate. However, the [Winged Dragon Ra] was not just for show; the solar fire it spewed instantly enveloped Yubel's attack and Yubel himself. But after the flames swept past without leaving any gaps, Yubel appeared unharmed in another position and dodged Hayato's attack again.

Realizing that her counterattack would be futile and would only increase her risk of being hit by Hayato, Yubel had no intention of fighting back at all and focused solely on escaping. While fleeing, she even summoned John's trump card—[Ultimate Jewel God - Rainbow Dragon]—using its special ability to constantly teleport and evade attacks.

However, the current [Ultimate Gem God - Rainbow Dragon] is completely unrecognizable, with its entire body covered in black. It might be more appropriate to call it [Ultimate Gem Beast - Rainbow Dark Dragon].

Everyone has their own expertise. Although the Winged Dragon Ra is very strong, it doesn't have a good way to deal with Yubel, who doesn't fight head-on. To make matters worse, Yubel keeps trying to influence Hayato's judgment with words while fleeing.

"In the process of plundering power from different worlds and perfecting the world that belongs to me and Jaden, there were too many useless redundancies that needed to be cut off to adapt to my world. I casually sacrificed those useless powers into the [Gate of the Phantom Demon]. But guess what? There was another being inside the [Gate of the Phantom Demon] that was neither one of the 'Three Phantom Demons' nor the [Chaos Phantom Demon]. After consuming the power I gave it, it wanted to go outside through the [Gate of the Phantom Demon]."

"That thing on the ground has no 'contract' relationship with me. On the contrary, I had been suppressing it for the sake of the purity of my and Jaden's world. That thing seemed to be quite afraid of the power of 'light wave'. What I just did was simply take back the power that I had been suppressing it."

"However, it was through contact with them that I learned the true nature of their power—they are beings from an inner world different from reality, the sediment of darkness within a planet, which, once leaked, indiscriminately infects and assimilates other creatures. And now, they have come to this world!"

Noticing that Hayato's attack paused for a moment because of his words, Yubel quickly added, "When we went to other worlds before, they didn't force me to use this secret trump card, even to seize the power of the world from those high and mighty so-called 'gods,' but you did it so easily. You're truly remarkable, Hayato Kobayashi. As a celebration, I'm giving up on taking the power from this world. In return, you can slowly deal with that being on the ground!"

Without retrieving the [Gate of Illusions] and the remaining cards of the "Illusions," Yubel turned and fled towards the rift in the sky. Hayato immediately ordered [Ra's Winged Dragon] to block his path while he chased after him. However, Yubel revealed a smile of triumph.

Without dodging the attacks from both ends, Yubel had the [Ultimate Jewel God - Rainbow Dark Dragon] completely envelop him with its body. Then, Yubel's teleportation ability, which Hayato had previously encountered, was activated by using the physical "meat shield" to delay the attack. This guy actually managed to escape before Hayato and [Ra's Winged Dragon of Ra] completely destroyed the [Ultimate Jewel God - Rainbow Dark Dragon]!
—The rift in the air seemed to be just for show from the beginning. Even Hayato couldn't shake off the influence of his first impression and subconsciously thought that Yubel, who came out from there, could only go back from there. However, he forgot that even in his incomplete state without a body, Yubel had the ability to perform large-scale spatial transfers on his own.

"Tch, she got away. So, it seems there's no way to keep Yubel in check and make her fight to the death without Jaden's help?" Hayato angrily used "cancel" to retrieve his holy sword. He looked at the crack in the sky, thinking that perhaps he could gather Yubel's aura from it and catch up with the fleeing Yubel, but that would definitely take a lot of time.

But at this moment, below him, Alai and his group were already in trouble—

"Crystallization Magic - Tears of Light!" "Imitation Crystallization Magic - Tears of Light!"

The powerful magic released by Vera collided with another spell perfectly replicated by Alai, and the two were precisely neutralized by Alai's subtle adjustments to the spell's formula. However, the next moment, Vera had already launched a second attack: "Crystallization Magic - Tear of Light!"

"Sandrion, you old hag, you've been controlled like this? What a disgrace!" Alai cursed angrily. "And all you can do is repeat yourself!"

The response from Alai was yet another "Crystallization Magic - Tear of Light," forcing Alai to cast another spell to counteract it.

Just as Alai's way of addressing Vera has reverted to how he addressed his old friend from a hundred years ago, Vera herself has indeed undergone a significant change. Although she usually acts as a young girl, Vera can actually briefly return to her "adolescence," or the "Sanweixian" period from a hundred years ago, by touching objects rich in magical energy.

With the help of Heine's power, Vera went to the trouble of replicating the above settings on the puppet body she created with alchemy. Originally, she was thinking that she could use this as a backup plan to show off at a critical moment, but she did not expect to use it for the first time now, after her puppet body was bewitched and controlled by that monster, to deal with Alai and his own people.

After being bewitched by that monster, it seems that the other party strengthened its control over Vera through some magical means, triggering the "hidden setting" of her body and causing her body to revert to its youthful state. She will no longer easily fall asleep after casting one or two powerful spells. At this moment, she is unleashing her full power against Alai in the form of [Crystal of the Great Sage - Sandriyong].

"So, you've always been with me." During the "magical repetition," although the principle was unknown, the consciousness of the real Vera, who was controlling "Vera's" body, did not dissipate and remained trapped inside. It seemed that she had entered some kind of illusion and was looking at something with an expression of intoxication and fascination.

"It's confirmed that I can't look at that monster too clearly. The mental control I've been putting on myself is being challenged. It seems that since I've already seen the monster clearly, it's no use not looking now!" While blocking another attack from "Sandrion", Alai was quite frustrated because his mind was affected and he couldn't concentrate on casting spells. As a result, he could only engage in a war of attrition with "Sandrion" using repetitive magic, which he was least good at, to see which side would run out of magic first.

Although he could get Hayato to support him, he could also see that "Sandrion" was also supported by the monster's magic. With his side tied up, only [Sanctuary's Water Spy] would be left to deal with the monster.

Although their relationship with their colleagues was not good, and the other party always targeted them because they showed too much face in front of Hayato, their card power, which Hayato called "[Summoner] Mini Axis", was so useful that it was often used as an add-on in Hayato's other decks. What could they do?
"Hey, can you handle this?" Alai asked casually to the [Temple's Water Request].

"How do I feel right now?!" [Senten no Mizuki] said happily as she jumped into Hayato's arms. Unfortunately, Hayato pushed her away the next second, leaving her only to savor the feeling she had just experienced.

Falling back to the ground from the air, seeing the black liquid continuously flowing from the monster opposite him, and some strange tentacles piercing the earth from its feet, Hayato's [Shadowdew Messiahre] also released a large number of magical threads in the surrounding shadows, forcing out the power that was also hidden in the shadows—because of the binding of [Shadowdew Messiahre]'s threads, those invisible forces finally had a visible form, which was actually the shape of countless "hands"?

"Can you handle this, little rice?"

【Shadowdee Misharrei】 really wanted to tell Hayato, "As long as you're here, I'm invincible," but unfortunately, she didn't want to lie to Hayato, as that was beyond her capabilities: "At most, I can restrict the spread of the opponent's power for three minutes, and then my restraint will be broken."

"This is already a situation where all of the Shadowduck have worked together." Although he didn't want Hayato to share the credit with others, especially God Shadowduck Nephilim, "Rice" still honestly added this sentence.

“That’s really troublesome.” Hayato frowned, watching as [Ra]’s attack also failed—although the solar fire did show signs of burning the opponent, the progress was too slow. Before [Ra] could finish off the opponent, the monster in front of him might escape and invade this world.

However, rather than saying that the opponent's power is too strong to resist [Ra], it's more like that the opponent's power is resistant to [Ra]'s holy fire that dispels evil? But the guy in front of me clearly looks like he has dark attribute, so he can't possibly have light attribute, right?

Lifting the Duel Disk, Hayato sighed, "It seems this is the only way—Duel!"

—Like a frustrated and angry fisherman who is about to scoop up a fish but it uses the net to break free of the hook, he finally managed to catch the fish but it still escaped. He can vent his frustration on you!
As Hayato raised his Duel Disk, the monster mimicked him by raising its left arm. The tentacles that made up its body dispersed and reformed, creating a Duel Disk exactly like Hayato's—but only in appearance. Its internal structure was entirely composed of writhing tentacles, and upon closer inspection, one could even see that the seemingly smooth surface of the Duel Disk was actually filled with tiny "hands" filling the gaps.

Abruptly pulling his gaze away, Alai's head throbbed with pain before instantly regaining its clarity. It was the mental control array he had left behind that had activated, forcing him to pull his gaze away from that hideous thing in time—but, was Master really going to duel with something like that? Could he really do that?

"al-Jawzā," the humanoid monster uttered for the first time. After a brief pause, its tentacles extended and retracted from under its hood as if reassembling its vocal organs, before it spoke again—this time, however, the voice sounded like a synthesized machine: "God's in his heaven, All's right with the world."

"Gods reside in the heavens, and the world is at peace?" Hayato subconsciously translated the other person's words, then sneered, "I've seen self-proclaimed gods before. And what kind of god are you?"

The other creature's tentacles twitched again, likely near its mouth, and this time the voice it emitted was one that Hayato recognized very well: "Using your titles, I am the god of Gemini, and also of Orion, who has come to redeem you lost lambs—"

(I'm certain of the Hundred-Armed Invisible One lineage. (laughs))

"That voice isn't the One God Matsuoka, I recognize it!" Hayato completely ignored the nonsense the other was spouting, but the voice was just too ridiculous. Considering the way the other's abilities were expressed, he couldn't help but say, "Holy crap, 'Invisible Hand'? Could that be your real name?"

"Do not transgress, Lamb! The 'invisible hand' is far from sufficient to describe even a fraction of my might. Worship me and praise my name—[Hundred-Armed Invisible]!"

"【Gaussa, the Hundred-Armed, Formless God】!"

(Because the Hundred-Armed Giant element is very prominent in the series design, I prefer to translate it as "Hundred-Armed Formless".) (End of this chapter)